1969 Stock Outboard Nationals
I was going through the storage room the other day and found the entry list for the 1969 Stock Outboard National at Hinton, West Virgina. If you were there you will remember the hurricane that came through. I drove down from New York in my wife's 1966 Chevele 396SS towing a trailer, the trunk loaded with engines and fuel and a boat on the roof, one of the first Aeroliner A/B runabouts built. The dam had to be closed so the level of the water rose all the way up to nearly the bottom of the bridge, my guess is 50 feet high. Everyone that was in the pits had to move up into the Blue Stone State Park camp ground. That was not to bad since that is where they had the Ox roast dinner. The entry list still has the red clay stains from all of the mud in the pits.
Can you believe 54 entries in BU, 47 in DSH, 30 in CU, 47 in ASH, 58 in BSH, 57 in AU, 54 CSH, 12 36 class, 18 JSH and 16 in JU?
anyone have the program from the race?
does anyone have the program from the race? i think pop augustine and either tom, gary or dave were on the cover.
frank
1969 Hinton National Results
I do not have the results but there were 27 listed entries. I drove Chris Neilsen's boat 200-N in heat 3. I will scan the DU page and post it later today.
1969 Hinton, West Virginia
In '69 I was up to my eyeballs in racing. Evinrude had me very busy, I raced in Paris, Berlin, Havasu, Parker, Miami...plus testing and stuff. I also ran a full schedule of Alky (Now PRO), plus was commodore or race chairman of SCOA and I basically promoted the Winternationals, with the help of JIMMY DAWE....
So, after racing the Nationals in Seattle in '68 and the Marathon Nationals in '68 (Michigan)...looking at a map to FIND Hinton, West Virginia seems too remote...I had missed the Divisional, as I lived in Willamette, Illinois most of the summer with Ron and Gerry Hedlund...and "WORKED" at OMC in Waukegan...
Also, Ernie Dawe who always kept me on my toes had gotten hurt at the Divisionals, plus he was working on a Masters (A Fellowship) somewhere and he wasn't going...So, .....This is the only Nationals Ernie has missed since 1959...
BUT, seems Gary Stippich didn't win....Think I would have remembered that...
But, I'll do some homework!
2 Attachment(s)
Mystery Solved....Don Pontius
Well, I looked in the Beloit, Wisconsin Program for the 1970 Nationals. And as soon as I saw Don Pontius, I remembered he was the defending Champion....And this is why I remember. I showed up in Beloit, in time to register, then visited my in-laws in Janesville. I didn't get to the race site until Friday to qualify, as I had LED a movement to end Divisional qualifiers being seated in the nationals, as I wanted to have more spots open for us BIG TIME RACERS....
Anyway, I won my qualifier, (1970) Billy Allen beat me one heat, but jumped the gun. When the finals came, I remembered Gary Stippich wasn't even at Beloit, I think, but for sure wasn't in D Runabout. I do remember being worried about Ponitus, as he had beaten me in '61 and '63. I started where I wanted, 8th on the outside and last, by lap one I passed Ponitus, and knew then I could win... Seems second was Stan Armstrong, Norm Schaub was third....
ADD: The coolest thing on the 1969 entry list is Ted Zahorski. Ted bought his first Mark 30-H from me, then went in the Air Force. When Ted came out of the air Force he started working on Motorcycles. Ted's motors would beat Yamaha, so they hired him..
When Yamaha found out Ted knew about boats, they hired him in their new outboard section. Ted's outboards won the Parker Enduro with Brian Daley driving and Rick Hoffman co-driving. Ted still works for Yamaha. He lives in Georgia, now...I miss him as a friend as we had lunch together now and then, when Yamaha was in California...Ted is the greatest guy, just don't ask him what time is it, because he'll tell you how the clock works...